Neil J. Weissman, MD, president of MedStar Health's research arm, talks about daily life in the MedStar Health Research Institute

Monday, June 5, 2017

Building a Legacy

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

What is going to be your legacy?

Wow! That is a big, audacious question! It is also exactly what we were asked at the end of the MedStar Leader of the Future.

The MedStar Leader of the Future is a multi-part training course for all managers across MedStar Health. I just completed Day 4, which is dedicated to “Nurturing Talent”, a dynamic session in which we discussed everything from effective communication to mentorship. As participants shared their “legacy”, it was not surprising how it often connects to empowering associates. One of my favorites was “to build a world class organization, one associate at a time.”

So how can we accomplish our “legacy”? Well, to start, the scientist in me wants to first “collect data” – and that is exactly what the associate survey is all about! Thanks to all of you, we now have survey results from well over 85% of associates. This week, we will start digging into the results (and written comments) with the MHRI managers, and then we will present the survey results to everyone in Town Halls, running June 9th to 21st.

One area of opportunity that you helped us identify on the prior survey was professional development, a clear route to enhancing associate empowerment. I have no doubt that this is an area we will continue to focus on going forward. Peter Senge, an American systems scientist who is a senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management, said it best: “A learning organization is one in which people at all levels, individually and collectively, are continually increasing their capacity to produce results they really care about.”

This quote resonates with me on several levels. First, the importance that each person is an individual and that individual growth collectively results in organizational growth. Second, the organization must continually grow and become a "learning organization” because the world is constantly changing; there is no field where this is more evident than in research and healthcare. Lastly, we all want to do meaningful work that we truly care about and what can be more meaningful than advancing the health of those around us!

That leads me back to our professional home at MedStar. What makes MedStar what it is? What will it take for MedStar to recognize its full potential in the future? The answer becomes clear as I write this monthly message – It is each one of us, together. Together, we will continue building a learning environment that advances health.

“Help others achieve their dreams and you will achieve yours.” - Les Brown